BEAVERTON, Ore., May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The Open Source Development Labs
(OSDL), a global consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux in
the enterprise, today announced its support for enhancements to the Linux
kernel submission process to improve the accurate tracking of contributions to
the kernel and ensure developers receive credit for their contributions.
Linux creator Linus Torvalds and Linux 2.6 kernel maintainer Andrew Morton
said they adopted the revised process after obtaining input and broad support
from key kernel subsystem maintainers and others in the open source community.
Under the enhanced kernel submission process, contributions to the Linux
kernel may only be made by individuals who acknowledge their right to make the
contribution under an appropriate open source license. The acknowledgement,
called the Developer's Certificate of Origin (DCO), tracks contributions and
contributors. The DCO ensures that appropriate attribution is given to
developers of original contributions and derivative works, as well to those
contributors who receive submissions and pass them, unchanged, up the kernel
tree. All contributors are called upon to "sign off" on a submission before
it may be considered for inclusion in the kernel.
"This process improvement makes Linux even stronger," said Linus Torvalds.
"We've always had transparency, peer review, pride and personal responsibility
behind our open source development method. With the DCO, we're trying to
document the process. We want to make it simpler to link submitted code to its
contributors. It's like signing your own work."
"The Linux development process has worked well for more than 10 years but
with its success has come new challenges," said Stuart Cohen, CEO of OSDL.
"The measure we announce today goes a long way toward eliminating doubt
surrounding the origin of Linux code, and does so without placing any undue
burden on the development community."
OSDL has committed to providing resources to ensure that contributions
made to the kernel adhere to the DCO and the process improvements. The Lab
will review the content of the contributions to confirm that submissions to
the kernel have been signed off by contributors in accordance with the DCO.
In addition, OSDL plans to launch an educational campaign for developers and
end users on the DCO and the process improvements. The full text of the DCO
and the process enhancement can be found at:
http://webtest/newsroom/press_releases/2004/2004_05_24_dco.html .
About Open Source Development Labs (OSDL)
OSDL -- home to Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux -- is dedicated to
accelerating the growth and adoption of Linux. Founded in 2000 by CA, Hitachi,
HP, IBM, Intel and NEC, OSDL is a non-profit organization at the center of
Linux supported by a global consortium of Linux customers and IT industry
leaders. OSDL sponsors industry-wide initiatives around Linux in
telecommunications, in the enterprise data center and on corporate desktops.
The Lab also provides Linux expertise and computing and test facilities in the
United States and Japan available to developers around the world. Visit OSDL
on the Web at http://www.osdl.org/ .
NOTE: OSDL is a trademark of Open Source Development Labs, Inc. Linux is
a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Third party marks and brands are the property
of their respective holders